As you can guess, this causes quite a dilemma when considering Android vs. Apple, because for once (shock! horror!) I don’t really have an opinion. Apple seems to be one of those brands that people either love or hate, so it’s a little strange to be someone who doesn’t feel strongly either way. When it comes to computers, I will admit that I’m a PC kid, and that a lot of the software I prefer is more open source. But I don’t reserve the special kind of hatred towards Apple that many people do… because although I see their closed business model ultimately as a money-maker, I don’t think Apple have ever pretended to be less than evil; and from my generally apathetic position, I can also see positives (and negatives) for both sides.
As someone who loves to make short films, I’ve found a similar issue can crop up with video editing software. When I first started, I used a Mac, and it was immediately clear that the video editing program (Final Cut Pro), music loop program (Garage Band), the title making program (Livetype) as well as iTunes and QuickTime, were all made to work together extremely well. It was a very smooth process moving music and video from one program to the next. However, once I really got into editing and began to understand how it works, this felt really restrictive to me, as most of these programs only work on a Mac, and they rarely work well with other programs. Apple is very good at having a user-friendly interface, but not so great at giving the user power. For this reason, I have found myself loyal to a PC program called Sony Vegas. Now Vegas, like most editing programs, can come in a package with other compatible programs, but it is also quite content to work with many programs outside of this package. For me, this is the perfect balance. A program which you can know will work smoothly with certain other programs, but which can also have more control over thanks to its polygamous nature.
Like you I don't have an opinion on Smartphones but it was really interesting to read your article because I'm a video editor too, but I still use Final Cut and love it. While I will sing the praises of Apple, my loyalty stems more from my dislike of the Windows operating system. I guess I haven't really experimented with Windows editing software, but love the seamless integration of the Final Cut and Adobe suites. It's funny talking about the way Apple has almost militant control over all their products, because in a diatribe justifying their refusal to adopt Flash, they claim themselves to have an open business model, and Flash to have a closed one.
ReplyDeleteI am with both of you on the apathetic Smartphone bandwagon. I still have a Nokia 3315 which I am quite happy with. I am not a video editor but i do love my graphic design. Although you can buy Adobe editing programs for both macs and PC's, it is clear that macs were made for that kind of thing, unite often I realise that I barely need to touch the mouse as the short cuts are just so simple. In saying this, I do not have a huge bias and would be quite comfortable buying and using whatever I thought had the best deal at the time of purchase. I'm glad to see that I am not the only one without a preference!
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